Recognition or sidelining? Reactions mixed as Grammys unveil Asian pop category

K-pop act BTS arrives for the 62nd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Jan. 26, 2020. The boy band was the first Korean act ever invited to perform at the ceremony. AP-Yonhap

The Grammy Awards will add a Best Asian Pop Music Performance category, a move read as recognition of Asian music's global reach after years of criticism that the show favored English-language acts and lagged behind the times.

The Recording Academy, which runs the Grammys, announced the rule change on its website Tuesday (local time). The new category takes effect at the 69th Grammy Awards next year, alongside four others — Best Latin Song, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance and Best Traditional Folk Album.

For Korea, the Asian pop category was the most welcome news of the bunch. BTS and other K-pop acts have topped Billboard's main chart and sold out world tours for years, yet the Grammys remained the one stage they could not crack.

K-pop boy band BTS performs the group's English-language hit "Butter" at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards in Las Vegas, April 3, 2022. AP-Yonhap

Because Grammy wins were especially hard to come by, some saw the change as a milestone cracked open by years of persistent knocking from K-pop music.

"Now that there is finally a category where K-pop artists can be officially recognized, it opens the door for far more artists to enter the conversation than before," a representative from a local K-pop agency told The Korea Times on condition of anonymity.

"In K-pop, awards mean visibility, and as more K-pop acts become eligible for Grammy nominations, they will also gain greater opportunities to attend and perform on one of the industry's biggest stages ... it's a chance to broaden K-pop's presence within the global music industry," the representative said.

Industry watchers also see the shift as a response to a fast-changing artist development landscape and the realities of a diversified digital market, with the academy loosening eligibility rules across major categories. They view it as a sign the mainstream music world can no longer ignore the global rise of Asian music, led by K-pop, or the broader diversification of the pop music industry.

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said the changes track shifting listening trends worldwide.

"These changes were all inspired by our music community sharing with us that they felt they needed to have more opportunities to celebrate different and new genres of music," he told Grammy.com. "Asian pop music is one of the most significant and sustained forces in the global music industry. Its impact is well-established, and it continues to grow and shape music culture around the world."

BLACKPINK's Rosé poses in the press room after winning Song of the Year for "APT." at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, held at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, Sept. 7, 2025. AP-Newsis

Other award shows got there first. MTV's Video Music Awards created a Best K-pop category in 2019, the American Music Awards added Favorite K-pop Artist in 2022, and the Billboard Music Awards introduced four K-pop-related categories, including Top Global K-pop Artist, in 2023.

Reaction to the new category has been mixed. While some see it as a stable entry point for Asian artists into the Grammys, others worry it could sideline them from the show's general field.

"K-pop's influence, along with other Asian music, keeps growing in North America, and trying to also accommodate J-pop and C-pop seems to have produced this trick of bundling everything under 'Asian,'" critic Jung Min-jae said in a local interview.

"Still, lumping together the music of Asian countries that don't have much in common leaves room for criticism ... I think we need to wait and see how it plays out next year."

Singer-songwriter EJAE, winner of the Song of the Year, Best Pop Song and Best Vocal Performance awards for "Golden," poses in the press room during the American Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, May 25. AFP-Yonhap

K-pop's Grammy story was inseparable from BTS between 2021 and 2023, when the group earned three straight nominations on the strength of global hits "Dynamite" and "Butter," only to come up short each time.

That changed in tone, if not in trophies, at the 68th Grammy Awards in February, when K-pop crossed fully into the mainstream — BLACKPINK's Rosé earned a nomination for "APT.," her collaboration with American popstar Bruno Mars, and "Golden," from the Netflix animated hit "KPop Demon Hunters," landed a nod in a major category.

Singer-songwriter EJAE, who wrote and performed "Golden," went on to win Best Song Written for Visual Media, becoming the first Grammy winner with ties to K-pop.